Author: TravellinPenguin

(Russian Proverb)

BOOK

I will share these critic’s response to this book. Then add my 2 cents.

“The Place of Tides” is a non-fiction work by James Rebanks, published in October 2024. Known for his writings on rural life in England, Rebanks shifts his focus in this book to the remote Norwegian island of Fjærøy in the Vega archipelago. There, he spends a season with Anna Måsøy, an elderly “duck woman” who has dedicated her life to the traditional practice of caring for wild eider ducks and collecting their down—a craft that dates back to Viking times. Guardian

Rebanks’s narrative chronicles his time from April to July, learning the meticulous process of building nests, protecting the ducks from predators, and harvesting the precious eiderdown. Through this experience, he reflects on themes of tradition, environmental stewardship, and personal growth. The book offers detailed insights into the cultural and historical aspects of eiderdown gathering, highlighting Anna’s resilience and dedication to preserving this ancient craft amidst modern challenges. Financial Times

Overall, “The Place of Tides” is lauded as a profound exploration of a unique way of life, offering readers a window into the serene yet challenging existence on a remote Norwegian island and the enduring bond between humans and nature.

Anna was such an interesting character. Seventy years of age, she is independent, strong and her affinity with the ducks is simply amazing. She is tough and when the weasels on the island go after the ducks or the large birds of prey she doesn’t hesitate to shoot them with her rifle. She protects the ducks as they return to the cleaned nests,,propped up by fresh straw as they lay and sit on their eggs.

It is sad to read of the decrease in the number of wildlife and the loss of these ancient traditions.

James Rebanks really wants to be away from work and family and renew himself in the isolation of the place and in the work of the two women.

It is a subject I knew nothing about and found it very interesting. Anna is such a tough woman and certainly does not tolerate fools. I really enjoyed this book.

There is a bit of repetition and I think the editing could have been slightly tighter in parts but overall I believed it to be a fascinating story in a remote part of the world.

LIFE

It has been a quiet week of no events. A few days exercising, a couple of phone conversations with friends. I am halfway through Hemingway;s book, A Moveable Feast. It got waylaid a bit as he Rebanks book took over. I must say though I am loving the Hemingway book. He writes of Paris so incredibly well I can see what he sees and almost smell the food.

I have been staying away from the news, especially politics anywhere in the world.

I worked on my junk journal and made up some new pages. I usually pick a theme and then collage the page with various images from an assortment of different publications and mail, etc.

No photography this week but one photo of street photography got picked in the top 20 of a facebook street photos challenge that happens every day. The site is called STREET PHOTOS (all caps) . There are tens of thousands of members from around the world and each day 20 photos are posted by the admin staff who like the, the best. So many of the photos are stunning and interesting.

My seagull in the Elizabeth mall of Hobart got picked a couple of days ago. Made me laugh as it surprised me. I have been following for months but only ever had three photos picked from this daily challenge.

BAKING

I don’t bake very often but I saw this recipe and wanted to make it. I like pineapple and I like cocoanut.

RECIPE-

RESULT

Let me know if you try it.

Have a good week ahead.

The weather here is ‘glam’ as my friend says and we are enjoying it. With all the news from California and the media hyped stories that seem never ending, it is great to have beautiful summer weather. Today was a big cleaning week. I have gone through wardrobes and drawers and completed a good cull. It feels great. I will not be buying any clothes this year! I keep reading about the damage of fashion on the environment, with clothes filling landfill around the world.

I find it easier to forego new clothes than I do new books but even that is going to be curtailed to book group buys only for the most part.

I seem to have a lot of t-shirts as I have always been a jeans and t-shirt person. They also travel to the gym regularly. I have two drawers of them. Ones with no illustration on the front and ones that do have. I keep them in separate drawers . I tend to collect them as I travel or my sister gives me the lovely cotton American ones when I see her.

Today I hauled them all out and did a Marie Kondo routine on them. I have always loved sorting and categorising so it was very relaxing.

I have also picked a book from my Audible subscription to begin listening to. It is The Place of Tides by James Rebanks. He wrote the book The Shepherd’s life that I loved. I love the sound of it and I see Fullers book store here, has it in their top 5 non fiction list of sales.

The blurb-

One afternoon many years ago, James Rebanks met an old woman on a remote Norwegian island. She lived and worked alone on a tiny rocky outcrop, caring for wild Eider ducks and gathering their down. Hers was a centuries-old trade that had once made men and women rich, but had long been in decline. Still, somehow, she seemed to be hanging on.

Back at home, Rebanks couldn’t stop thinking about the woman on the rocks. She was fierce and otherworldly – and yet strangely familiar. Years passed. Then, one day, he wrote her a letter, asking if he could return. Bring work clothes, she replied, and good boots, and come quickly: her health was failing. And so he travelled to the edge of the Arctic to witness her last season on the island.

This is the story of that season. It is the story of a unique and ancient landscape, and of the woman who brought it back to life. It traces the pattern of her work from the rough, isolated toil of bitter winter, to the elation of the endless summer light, when the birds leave behind their precious down for gathering, like feathered gold.

Slowly, Rebanks begins to understand that this woman and her world are not what he had previously thought. What began as a journey of escape becomes an extraordinary lesson in self-knowledge and forgiveness.

Last night I was looking at some of the movies streaming on Netflix. I need a change while I wait for the final shows of Vera to arrive on our shores.

I seem to watch more British detective series and not movies. I came across the movie that was based on the book by Australian film maker Bill Bennet of his pilgrimmage on the Camino trail in Spain. I read the book last year and enjoyed it. He had always been quite the curmudgeon, a workaholic and hung out with all the ‘right’ people. His 800 km walk as an old man really changed him. Very set in his ways.

The film is produced and directed by him and keeps very close to the book. The scenery is beautiful. It is currently streaming on Netflix. I enjoyed the other characters he met along the way.

It has been a pleasant week. My back is doing fine and I’m back at the gym doing the classes I enjoy. I celebrate my 5th anniversary of going to the gym for workouts later this year.

I hope all of you are enjoying life at the moment and my thoughts go out to those Americans who were impacted by the fires. I also hope you get through the inauguration this next week. I will not be watching it.

I’ll leave you with my favourite photo I took of Bonorong Wildlife sanctuary who had an article in today’s newspaper here. I’ll add that too.

I finished the 500 page book, Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty. It’s pretty much a beach read. I enjoyed it but the ending was different than what I expected . It might be a good book to travel with but the book itself is very heavy.

Now the random reading book is to be selected. I have decided to do what Karen at Booker Talk does and randomly select three books then choose the one to read. I had a trial run with the Book Buddy random selector on the app and it chose a couple of reference books that you wouldn’t read as a novel. So I decided to choose three and then pick one.

Here are the picks:

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway’s memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, but also at the other writers who shared Paris with him – James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald – he recalls the time when, poor, happy and writing in cafes, he discovered his vocation. Written during the last years of Hemingway’s life, his memoir is a lively and powerful reflection of his genius that scintillates with the romance of the city.

Femme Fatale by Guy de Maupassant

Madame Berthe d’Avancelles had rejected the advances of her admirer Baron Joseph de Croissard to such an extent that he was now in despair. He had pursued her relentlessly throughout the winter in Paris, and now at his château at Carville in Normandy he was holding a series of hunting parties in her honour.

The husband, Monsieur d’Avancelles, turned a blind eye to all this. It was rumoured that they lived separate lives on account of a physical shortcoming of his which Madame could not overlook. He was a fat little man with short arms, short legs, a short neck, short nose, short everything in fact. Madame d’Avancelles, in contrast, was a tall, chestnut-haired, determined-looking young woman. She laughed openly at old Pipe and Slippers as she called him to his face but looked with tender indulgence on her admirer, the titled Baron Joseph de Croissard, with his broad shoulders, his sturdy neck and his fair, drooping moustache.

The Outlaw Bible of American Literature

The Outlaw Bible of American Literature will serve as a primer for generational revolt and an enduring document of the visionary tradition of authenticity and nonconformity in literature. This exuberant manifesto includes lives of the writers, on-the-scene testimony, seminal underground articles never before collected, photographs, cartoons, drawings, interviews, and, above all, the writings. Beat, Punk, Noir, Prison, Porn, Cyber, Queer, Anarchist, Blue Collar, Pulp, Sci-Fi, Utopian, Mobster, Political—all are represented. The Bible includes fiction, essays, letters, memoirs, journalism, lyrics, diaries, manifestoes, and selections from seminal film scripts, including Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, and Taxi Driver. The editors have brought together an extravagant, eclectic, searing, and unforgettable body of work, showcasing Hustlers, Mavericks, Contrarians, Rockers, Barbarians, Gangsters, Hedonists, Provocateurs, Hipsters, and Revolutionaries—all in one raucous cauldron of rebellion and otherness. This prose companion to the best-selling award-winning Outlaw Bible of American Poetry features selections from Hunter S. Thompson, Exene Cervenka, Patti Smith, Dennis Cooper, Malcolm X, Sonny Barger, Maggie Estep, Lenny Bruce, Henry Miller, R. Crumb, Philip K. Dick, Iceberg Slim, Gil Scott-Heron, Kathy Acker, Jim Carroll, Charles Mingus, Norman Mailer, and many others.

As you can see this a reference book. I have dipped into this many times over the course of years I have owned it. I was going to choose again but thought if you weren’t familiar with this book you might enjoy seeing what it is about. Published in 2004.

DRUM ROLL-

The book I will begin reading today is Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. I like his writing and no matter what one thinks of the man, his books have stood the test of time. People seem to either love him or hate him but I think that has a lot to do with the kind of man he was. I am inly interested in the book.

LIFE EVENTS OF THE WEEK

It has been a quiet week as I pulled a muscle in my lower back and have had to do exercises so I can get in and out of chairs, then walk. Pilates classes are in hold as I slowly move again. I did swim yesterday and sat in a very hot Jacuzzi which did wonders. Today I took the bus into town , had a good walk, looked at a dress I saw in a newsletter I receive that I loved, but the photo is much better than the real thing. Not that I was going to buy it. After all we all need to cut back on fashion now because of the serious overflow in landfill and let’s face it, clothes just aren’t made as well as they used to be.

Met up with a couple of friends who were having lunch and beginning their Wednesday Scrabble game at Mathers House in Hobart. Used to be called the 50’s and Over where people drop in for lunch, catch ups and scrabble. Had a quick chat then got the bus home. It was quite humid today until the temperature broke and we got a drizzle of rain. I sat outdoors and had a milkshake for sustenance 😉😉😉 then got the bus home. Although no formal exercise, I got my walk in and my back is feeling better. Just muscle woes.

I just heard the yellow tailed black cockatoos in the neighbourhood. They have come down from the mountain as the weather has changed and we are expecting rain later today. I love them. They are such beautiful, large birds.

There you have it. Now, I’ll leave you all in peace and go find Mr Hemingway on the shelf.

Until next time…